Beck, Bowers pace No. 1 Georgia's offensive attack in dominant victory over No. 20 Kentucky

Updated Oct. 8, 2023 12:12 a.m. ET

Associated Press

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Quarterback Carson Beck could feel a momentum shift for Georgia in the second half of last week's win at Auburn.

Coming into Saturday night's showdown with Kentucky, Beck sensed the Bulldogs would get off to a fast start.

“I definitely think there is a thing such as momentum, so coming into the game after coming off a road win in the SEC, we felt good and very confident,” Beck said. “That showed tonight."

Beck passed for 389 yards and four touchdowns, Brock Bowers had seven catches for 132 yards and No. 1 Georgia cruised to a 51-13 victory over No. 20 Kentucky on Saturday night.

The two-time defending national champion Bulldogs (6-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) extended their winning streak to 23 straight games and are the SEC's lone unbeaten team this season.

Georgia has won 14 in a row over Kentucky and has victories in 33 consecutive regular-season games, a streak that began Nov. 21, 2020, against Mississippi State.

Coming off a stunning beatdown of Florida last week, Kentucky (5-1, 2-1) carried none of the momentum it had from that game, allowing Georgia to score on all six of its first-half possessions and trailing 34-7 at intermission.

“They beat us in every area," Wildcats coach Mark Stoops said. “It is hard to come up with an opening statement after a beatdown like that. It has been a while. It doesn’t feel good. I told the team that the good news is that it counts as one game. We have to respond and bounce back. I will put this one on me. We weren’t prepared in any area.”

The Bulldogs scored touchdowns in the first half on Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint's 40-yard catch, Rara Thomas' 15-yard catch, Oscar Delp's 5-yard catch and Kendall Milton's 5-yard run. Peyton Woodring kicked two field goals and added another in the third quarter.

Georgia racked up its first 600-yard performance since 2020 against Missouri.

“When you run the ball and you have play-action and your offensive line protects and you have throwers and catchers, you’re going to do well,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said after improving to 87-15 in his eight-year tenure. “It makes it hard to defend us as a team because (Beck is) standing back there all day because you’re protecting and you can’t cover (the receivers) very long.”

The Wildcats managed 127 yards of offense in the first half, but they got off to a good start in the third as Maxwell Hairston intercepted Beck and Ray Davis followed with a 26-yard TD catch to cut the lead to 34-13.

That was as good as it would get for Kentucky.

“Our players started fast, finally, and that was great to get a start-fast game,” Smart said. "We challenged them all week to have a connected physicality. We really wanted to be connected because we felt like we could be more physical if we were together. We talked all week about mass and acceleration equal force. We wanted to have a lot of mass and a lot of acceleration.”

Bowers caught a 49-yard pass down the left side to set up Woodring's 36-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, padding the lead to 24-7. The All-America tight end dropped a 17-yard pass in the left corner of the end zone on the previous play, but he made up for it with a 21-yard TD catch that made it 44-13 late in the third.

“I just dropped it, so I had to go out there and make another play,” Bowers said.

Beck was 11 of 11 for 146 yards in the first quarter and finished the first half 21 of 26 for 307 yards, three scores and a passer efficiency rating of 218.

He finished 28 of 35 passing with an efficiency rating of 204.5. It was the first complete game played by Beck, who has taken over for departed starter Stetson Bennett IV and began the game ranked ninth nationally in passing with 299.4 yards per game. He has 11 touchdowns and three interceptions in six games.

“I think the biggest thing for us each week is obviously to go out there and execute at the highest level and obviously come out with a win no matter the score," Beck said after becoming the first Georgia quarterback since Aaron Murray in 2013 with three straight 300-yard games. “But tonight it really felt like we couldn’t go wrong with any play that was called in.”

Brock Vandagriff played QB in the fourth quarter for Georgia and led a late TD drive that ended the scoring.

Davis, a graduate transfer who leads the SEC in rushing, finished with 59 yards on 15 carries. He ran for 280 of Kentucky's 329 yards rushing in last week's 33-14 home win over Florida, scoring three times on the ground, with a 9-yard TD reception.

“We’ve got to flush it and focus on trying to get better, fixing things we need to get fixed, and get back to the drawing board,” Davis said. "We’ve got a good opponent coming up in Mizzou next weekend and just focus on that. Obviously, it was a tough loss. We worked our butts off all week. We wish the outcome was different, but that’s football. The game is wins and losses, and it’s about how you battle adversity and you come back.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Kentucky: The Wildcats were flustered from the start and had no answer for Georgia's juggernaut offense. Their offense wasn't much better. On Kentucky's first two drives, right guard Jager Burton committed two penalties, one for a personal foul and another for holding, that contributed to the Wildcats having to punt both times. A personal foul penalty early in the second on defensive tackle Deone Walker gave the Bulldogs a first down to their 35 and led to another score.

Georgia: Two straight relatively tight SEC victories over South Carolina and Auburn had fans wondering if the Bulldogs could bury a stout opponent. Georgia answered its critics. As Kentucky entered the game with the nation’s No. 5 defense against the run, but 46th against the pass, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo made an easy decision to attack through the air. Beck was superb, thanks in part to a nonexistent pass rush, and had plenty of time to go through his progressions.

TWO-YEAR WAIT ENDS

Sanford Stadium hosted its first SEC night game since the 2021 league opener against South Carolina. The crowd was announced at 92,746.

UP NEXT

Kentucky: Host No. 21 Missouri next Saturday.

Georgia: At Vanderbilt next Saturday.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll